Panel Votes to Keep Iran Report Secret

The Senate Intelligence Committee, ignoring a plea from President Reagan, voted narrowly Monday night to keep secret a preliminary report on the Iranian arms scandal that White House officials had hoped would vindicate the President.

The 7-6 vote was a victory for the Democrats, who argued that the committee’s investigation was too incomplete to give an accurate account of why the Reagan Administration sold arms to Iran and how some profits were diverted to Nicaraguan rebels.

Republican leaders and White House officials had strongly urged release of the report.

Although the vote was not strictly along party lines, it was apparent from the strongly divergent positions taken by Republican and Democratic leaders that the Iranian arms scandal was quickly becoming a highly partisan issue.

The clash came just one day before the 100th Congress convened, with Democrats taking control of the Senate for the first time in six years. Monday was the final day of Republican control of the Senate Intelligence Committee; Democrats will chair special Watergate-style investigating committees to be established in both the House and Senate later this week.

The growing partisanship was further underscored by White House Communications Director Patrick J. Buchanan, who told a rally of Reagan supporters near the White House earlier in the day that the Iran- contra matter was “rapidly being converted into an extension of the (unsuccessful Walter F.) Mondale campaign” for President in 1984.

“Some on Capitol Hill want to drag this thing out because they want to use this to drag down a President who defeated and humiliated them on the political field of battle,” he said. “The Democrats tell us this investigation must be dragged out to get the truth. They’re not after the truth; they’re after Ronald Reagan.”

Described as ‘Mistake’

Senate Republican leader Bob Dole of Kansas, angered by the committee’s decision, described it as a “mistake” that would only serve to prolong the scandal and hurt Reagan.

“It may be months before we get any information,” he said. “My view is that there is more at stake than the sensibilities of the Intelligence Committee members. We are talking about the President and the presidency.”

Hours before the committee met, White House spokesman Larry Speakes repeated Reagan’s earlier plea to Congress to release its findings as quickly as possible. “The President urges that the report be released to the public immediately,” he said.

It was not known how each member of the Intelligence Committee voted on the issue of releasing the report because the balloting took place in closed session. However, it was apparent that at least one Republican had voted against releasing the report because only six Democratic members were eligible to vote.

Vote on Shorter Report

Sen. Frank H. Murkowski (R-Alaska) said that while the key vote was 7 to 6 against releasing the complete, 183-page report, there was also a second vote of 8 to 4 against releasing a shorter, “sanitized” version of the committee’s findings.

Democrats accused the Republicans of wanting to release the report only because the committee had found no evidence that Reagan approved the diversion of funds to the contras. They insisted that the committee cannot vindicate Reagan because several key witnesses, including former White House aides John M. Poindexter and Lt. Col. Oliver L. North, refused to testify.

“The Administration would like a report that says that they didn’t trade arms for hostages, and they’d like a report that no one in the Administration was involved in diverting funds to the contras,” said Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), vice chairman of the committee. “I can understand why they want such a report, but they are not going to get it.”

Leahy asserted that the lengthy draft report, which was prepared by staff after the committee heard from 36 witnesses during three weeks of hearings, contained conclusions that were not “accurate or complete.”

Ignorance on Aid Reported

The Associated Press reported that at least one draft of the committee report concluded that the President knew nothing of the diversion of funds to the contras, but Committee Chairman Dave Durenberger (R-Minn.) insisted that the final version stated explicitly that the committee could not determine what Reagan knew.

He said that Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.) had insisted on a section outlining what questions the committee could not answer, and retiring Sen. Thomas F. Eagleton (D-Mo.) was responsible for another section stating how the committee’s investigation had been limited by a shortage of time and a lack of cooperation on the part of some witnesses.

“It doesn’t come to any conclusion,” Durenberger said. “On issues like did the President know, we can’t answer that one. It doesn’t make the President look good. The whole report is embarrassing to the Administration, if you want to know the truth.”

Meanwhile, Democrats and Republicans also clashed over the guidelines that will be given to the Watergate-style committee to be created by a vote of the Senate later this week. Officially, it will be called the Select Committee on Secret Military Assistance to Iran and the Nicaraguan Contras.

Oct. 31 Deadline Proposed

The draft legislation unveiled by Senate Democratic leader Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia would give the committee a wide-ranging mandate with no obligation of reporting to Congress before next Oct. 31. Byrd said he specifically wanted the committee to report before next year in order to keep the issue from becoming involved in presidential politics during 1988.

But Dole, who already is running for the GOP nomination for President, argued that by requiring the committee to report in late October--when Congress will probably already have recessed for the year--the recommendations could not be acted upon until 1988. Dole originally had proposed that the committee be required to report by March.

In addition, Dole objected to the legislation on grounds that it would allow the committee to investigate funding of the contras by other means than through the profits from Iranian arms sales. Unless that is changed, he threatened to offer an amendment allowing the committee to investigate the funding of the Nicaraguan Sandinista government as well.

At the White House, Speakes said that Reagan had been briefed on the contents of the draft report of the Senate Intelligence Committee, but had not received a copy. A White House official was permitted to review the document and excise some portions on grounds they would jeopardize national security, according to committee members.

‘Ready for Release’

“We believe it is ready for release to the public,” Speakes said. “It is the most complete account thus far of how the President’s policy concerning Iran was carried out, and the most complete compilation of the available facts concerning the alleged diversion of funds to the anti-Sandinista forces in Nicaragua.”

Durenberger said the report demonstrates that Reagan Administration officials were well-intentioned in deciding to sell arms to Iran, even though others involved in the deal did not share their motives.

“There was a need on the part of the Israelis to get the U.S. to sell arms to Iran, and there was a need on the part of the Iranians to get them and a need on the part of some folks to make money,” he said. “And you put that together with a very well-intentioned effort to find a long-range opening to Iran, and there you’ve got the whole bloody mess.”